Page 177 of Kissing the Villain

I uncapped three beers and handed one to Alex. “Drink up, princess.”

She tilted the cold bottle to her lips, eyes on me. “Are you trying to get me drunk, Marcello?”

I loved the way she said my name, dragging out the last two syllables in that sweet, sexy tone.

“No, I want you to have fun.”

“Fun?” Alex laughed. “What’s that? Luca doesn’t let me have fun.”

“Luca’s not here.” I chugged half of my beer and wiped my mouth with my hand. “Forget about him.”

It was hard for Alex to separate her attachment to my brother. She’d taken a lot of shit from him. He was such a bastard, too. Over the years, it killed me to stand back and watch him destroy her like he did everyone else.

I tapped her shoulder to gain her attention. “I’ll be right back. I have to give Sonny his beer. Go sit on the sun deck and relax.”

I watched her walk away, then climbed the stairs. Sonny sat in the captain’s chair with his arm resting on the ledge, his fingers wrapped around the leather wheel. As usual, he looked in his element, like he was born to live at sea.

I handed him the beer, and he raised the bottle in appreciation. “I was hoping Alex would come up here and sit on my lap,” he said between sips. “You tapping that yet?”

“Fuck off, Son.”

“So that’s a no.” He turned in his chair, a smirk in place. “You think your plan will work?”

“I don’t know,” I confessed. “My brother did a number on her head.”

“Well, unfuck her head. This shit fucks with the Knights.”

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t need another reminder. I get enough from my dad.”

My family and the Devil’s Knights wouldn’t be in this situation if Luca didn’t screw up so badly. As a child, he liked to break his toys. Luca destroyed everything good, and he’d almost broken our queen.

“You get to have her again before Legare,” Sonny groaned. “Fuck, I’m not gonna lie. I’m jealous. I still think about that night in the temple.”

“Me too.”

Sonny drank from the bottle and set it in the cup holder beside him. “Has she asked about her brother lately?”

I leaned against the railing. “Not since the meeting with Carl. She knows we’re hiding shit from her. Alex isn’t stupid.”

He shook his head. “She will hate both of you when she discovers the truth. It’s only a matter of time before she gets her memories back and pieces everything together.”

“I know. But it wasn’t my fault. I tried to do right by Aiden.”

Sonny nodded. “She might not see it that way.”

I hated that he was right. Alex only had blurry memories of what happened the night Aiden disappeared. She blamed Luca, maybe even me. At least she didn’t stab me, so that was a plus.

“I’m gonna head down and keep her company.”

Sonny tapped his beer against mine. “We’ll be at our usual spot in thirty minutes. Have the sandwiches ready. I’m starving.”

“Aye, aye, captain,” I quipped before heading down the stairs.

I found Alex on a deck chair, looking like a sea goddess with her legs spread out and curls fanned around her pretty face. She looked up at me, a big smile stretching the corners of her mouth.

She patted the deck chair beside her. “Sit. I want to play a game.”

I did as she commanded like I was under her fucking spell. “What kind of game?”

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